No Good Friend Dies In Vain
by Fanfic-Reader-88
Summary: When two of his friends are killed in a drive-by as they were preparing to move from Los Angeles, A-Wax goes on a mission for revenge. Based on and inspired by the 1993 film "Menace II Society". Rated M for graphic violence and strong language. Reader discretion is advised.


**New Line Cinema, the Hughes Brothers, Tyger Williams and Darin Scott own **_**Menace II Society.**_**For those of you who are familiar with the movie, this is a "what if" type of fic, and it looks at what might have happened if A-Wax had been able to get revenge for the drive-by that left Caine and Sharif dead. Before it gets to the end of the story, and the purpose of the plot, be warned that there are some filler and flashback segments throughout the fic. To any of my regular readers who decided to check this out, I'm still working on the next update to everything in the "Whiz/Grunch..." universe, along with some other stuff, which hopefully will be finished soon. But until then, I present to you "No Good Friend Dies In Vain".**

**(Late summer 1993; Watts, Los Angeles, California)**

**It was supposed to be a day of new beginnings and the start of a new life. But instead, like many other people had dealt with **on many other days, there was the heavy presence of tragedy and chaos.

Rather than heading to Atlanta and Kansas, respectively, 18-year-olds Kaydee "Caine" Lawson and Sharif Butler were now casualties of the streets, lost in the war that street life ultimately led to. In their cases specifically, they were shot down in a drive-by that was in retaliation for a beatdown that one of the shooters suffered from Caine. Sharif died immediately, and Caine, while he had initially been able to hang on to life, eventually succumbed to the four shots that had hit him during the attack.

To make matters worse, Caine's best friend, Kevin "O-Dog" Anderson, had been arrested for his murder and armed robbery of a husband-and-wife duo of convenience store owners earlier in the summer. He had only managed to avoid consequences for the crime up until that point because he had took the surveillance tape from the store - although he had been crazy enough to show the tape to his friends, and aside from the broken beer bottle that Caine had dropped in the store, there was no evidence linking them to the crime. The cops had only got a hold of the tape because Chauncey, a former friend of Caine and O-Dog's, had given it to them out of anger and in retaliation for another beating that Caine handed out, which had started because Chauncey was forcing himself on Caine's friend (and eventual girlfriend) Ronnie.

**Now, because of the shooting that occurred earlier in the afternoon, **Ronnie, her son Anthony, and Stacy - a young man who was also a friend of theirs, Caine, O-Dog and Sharif - were left to grieve over their deaths. The impact was the worst on Ronnie and Anthony, because not only had they simply lost their friends, but in Caine, Ronnie had lost a boyfriend, and Anthony had lost the closest thing to a big brother and father figure that he had, since his father Pernell - who was a big brother figure to Caine by hanging with his father Tat - was serving a life sentence in prison.

Shortly after the police left, A-Wax, another friend of theirs, had arrived at the house where Ronnie and Anthony once lived - and where the drive-by had took place earlier. Once he got out of the car, Stacy was the first to greet him, as he continued to sit on the front porch while Ronnie and Anthony went back inside for the time being.

"Yo, what up, Stace?" A-Wax said in a low tone as he got to the porch.

"What's up, Wax?" Stacy replied as A-Wax approached him.

"I heard what happened out here earlier, man. Damn, I can't believe they took out Caine and Sharif like that."

"I know. That... that shit hurt, coming out here and seeing them all shot up. Sharif was already dead when me and Ronnie came out here, and Caine, when I picked him up and held him, he was out here coughing up blood. I tried to get him to hold on like he did when we had to take him to the hospital, but when the ambulance got here, his body had already gave out."

Stacy was also referring to a carjacking that happened after a graduation party that was held for Caine. After the party was over, he and his cousin Harold were on the way to get something to eat when one of the jackers shot them after they hadn't got out of the car fast enough. Harold died immediately from two shots in the head, and Caine was hit in his shoulder, which caused him to bleed badly. He spent some time in the hospital, but shortly after he was released, he, O-Dog and Wax avenged the shooting by killing the carjackers outside of a fast-food restaurant.

Meanwhile, A-Wax thought of Caine's grandparents and Sharif's father, and then he asked Stacy, "did you or Ronnie talk to Mr. Butler and Caine's grandma and grandpa yet?"

"Not yet, man. I think we should go see them and tell 'em what happened, because I don't think it'd be right to just let them know over the phone," Stacy said. "I mean, it's getting late, so me and Ronnie, we'll have to go over there quick." On one hand, it wasn't unusual for people to tell someone that a friend or relative had died through a phone call, but given how close they were to Caine and Sharif, he felt that he, Ronnie and even Anthony could at least go and see Mr. and Mrs. Lawson and Mr. Butler and deliver the news personally.

Before he could put too much more thought into it, A-Wax then wondered if Stacy knew who was responsible for the shooting, or if O-Dog had told him who did it before the police came and eventually arrested him.

"Look, man, did you see who it was that came through here and started shooting?" A-Wax asked.

"I was in the house with Ronnie when it happened, but right before the cops came, O-Dog told me it was these dudes in this old Pontiac. A green one that was all rusty and shit."

"Did he see any of 'em, or was they hiding their faces?"

"He said that everybody in the ride had on a ski mask except the nigga in the passenger side in the front. You know that girl Caine was talking to at that barbecue a few weeks back?"

"Yeah, what about her?" A-Wax wondered. He knew that the girl Stacy was talking about was a young woman named Ilena, who was very attractive but also had an alleged reputation of sleeping around.

"Yeah, well, after him and Ronnie came from seeing Pernell, Caine had went back home to his grandparents' house. Him and O-Dog was talking when her cousin came up on them and he was mad because Caine wasn't claiming her baby, and apparently, he was trying to start some shit."

"So that's the dude Caine got into it with the other day."

"Yeah, it is," Stacy began. "That's when Caine started whooping his ass. He probably wouldn't have stopped if his granddad didn't come outside. O-Dog called himself trying to break it up when he saw him coming, and he grabbed him and pulled him in the house."

"You was over there when it happened?" A-Wax asked.

"Naw, O-Dog told me this when he came through later that night," Stacy replied. The fight led to Caine's grandfather ultimately making the decision to kick him out, even as Caine had told his grandparents that he was moving to Atlanta with Ronnie and Anthony, and had asked to at least stay until it was time for them to leave with Stacy and Sharif, who were headed to Kansas. But Mr. Lawson stood his ground and stuck with his decision, even with Caine on the verge of tears once he saw his grandmother crying just as he was about to leave.

Now knowing who was responsible for the drive-by earlier, and why, A-Wax was slowly but surely plotting revenge. "So just because Caine knew the girl fucked a bunch of people and wasn't gonna claim her baby, and her cousin couldn't handle getting his ass whooped, Caine and Sharif had to die. Fuck that shit. I'm finding them motherfuckers, and when I do, they all dead."

Understanding that A-Wax was upset, but also knowing the possible consequences that he could face if he went through with his plans, Stacy had tried to talk him out of it. "Nah, nah, hold on, Wax. I know you wanna get those fools, but look at what already happened, man. Caine and Sharif, they gone, and O-Dog might be locked up for the rest of his life. And even if he get out, he'll still end up doing a whole bunch of time. All that's really left is us, and I don't know what's gonna happen to us, but me personally, I would rather be alive and on the streets to find out, than to be locked up or in a grave somewhere."

Normally, to A-Wax, something like this would have sounded like his friend was scared, and it would have caused him to say that he was "punking out", or that he was acting like a bitch or a pussy. But seeing as how he was talking to Stacy, and knowing what was still on the table for him moving forward, he was willing to leave him and it alone. But it also did little or nothing to make him change his mind about his own well-being.

"Look, man, I know what you saying, and I know that the reason why you were going to Kansas was so you could go to school to play football. And even if you don't make it to the NFL or whatever else, you still got a good life ahead of you," A-Wax began. "But me, I been rolling on these streets for a long time, hustling and doing all kind of dirt. That's all I got, and that's all I know, and that's probably all I'm gonna know. So if I die or go to jail because I wanted to get some payback for my homies, then that's just what it is. I probably won't do it tonight, and you ain't gotta go with me. But soon, I'm gonna find them niggas, and they all getting smoked. I'm out."

With that, A-Wax fist-bumped Stacy, who shook his head and quietly said "damn" as he walked back into the house to check on Ronnie and Anthony, because he knew that he most likely hadn't got through to A-Wax. Before it got too late, he went with them to tell Mr. Butler, and eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Lawson about Caine and Sharif's deaths.

**Nearly a week had passed since the drive-by, and in the past couple of days, both Caine and Sharif had been laid to rest, and as expected, **both funerals were filled with plenty of sadness and grief. On top of the general heartbreak of losing a family member and friend, along with the fact that Caine and Sharif had died at such a young age and in such a violent manner, their parents and grandparents were both dealing with personal turmoil about their son and grandson's deaths.

On one hand, Mr. Butler was upset with losing his only son, and although it wasn't his fault, he also felt a sense of guilt. As a teacher, he had helped many kids avoid death, prison and most of the other traps that came from living in poverty. But yet, he felt as if he hadn't done enough to help Caine and particularly his son Sharif, who made it his mission to change his life after he had been locked up earlier in his teen years. Mr. Butler even made it his business to warn Caine that he needed to "think about his life", and although Caine had ultimately decided to listen, it appeared to be too little and too late, at least in Mr. Butler's mind.

Then, for Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, they were saddened by their grandson's death, which was even further amplified by the fact that Caine's death was long preceded by their son Tat, who was killed in a bad drug deal, and their daughter-in-law Karen, who died from a overdose when Caine was ten. And just earlier in the summer, their nephew Harold had been buried after being killed in the carjacking which happened after the graduation party that was thrown for Caine.

Mr. Lawson was also feeling regret and guilt for forcing Caine to leave after the beatdown that he gave Ilena's cousin, and he had began wondering if he could have avoided death had he not been kicked out. Even if Caine had been busted for being at the store with O-Dog the night that he killed the owners, Mr. Lawson still felt that it was better than having to see his grandson and one of his friends being put in the ground, for the simple fact that he and his wife could have talked to and visited him if they chose to do so.

The funerals were definitely emotional for Stacy, Ronnie and Anthony, as Stacy had said goodbye to the two young men who were not only his best friends, but who were also like his brothers.

For Ronnie, it was hard because not only had she lost a new love, but someone who she watched grow up over the years. Although she was older than Caine (and Sharif and Stacy), the age gap wasn't much, so for her, her grief was just as bad, or better yet, even worse than what Stacy felt.

But if Sharif's death, and especially Caine's, had hurt anyone the most besides Mr. Butler and Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, it could have been argued that it was Anthony. Having been born when Caine, Sharif and Stacy were just entering their teens, and not having any great knowledge of his father other than what Ronnie told him because of his imprisonment, Caine was the closest thing to a big brother and father figure that Anthony had in his five short years on earth, and now, because of the drive-by, that was all gone.

**Once a full week had gone by after the shooting, and just a few days after Caine and Sharif's funerals, A-Wax had went to see O-Dog in jail, **as he had been there since the cops came to Ronnie's house shortly after the drive-by ended. For A-Wax, while it was sad and had hurt for him to see Caine and Sharif laid to rest, it didn't hit him as hard as it had for Mr. Butler, the Lawsons, Stacy, Ronnie and Anthony. On one hand, it was partly because he was still thinking of a way to avenge their deaths, but it was also because of how often he had lost someone who was close to him, even before the past week.

Back to present times, not long after A-Wax had been allowed inside the jail, he made his way to a phone booth in the visitor's room, and shortly after that, O-Dog sat down on the other side of the table and glass window. Once they were both situated, they had grabbed their phones and began to talk.

"What up, homie?" A-Wax asked on his line.

"Nothing, man. Just trying to maintain up here in this jail," O-Dog replied. "What's happening with you, Wax?"

"Pssh, ain't nothing, man. Just been out here on the streets, doing how I do, looking for the fools that killed Caine and Sharif."

"Yeah, man, I hear you. How their folks doing?"

"What can I say? Everybody hurting right now, especially Mr. Butler and Caine's grandparents. Even with all the stuff I saw in the hood in my life, it was hard seeing them like that. Same thing with Ronnie, Stacy and Anthony."

"I know little man must be hurting for real," O-Dog said referring to Anthony. "With Pernell being up in here, all Ant had was Caine, and now he don't even have him."

"I know. You ran into Pernell yet?" A-Wax asked O-Dog in regard to Anthony's father.

"Yeah, I did. It was about a couple of days after I got up in here. He asked me what happened, and I told him about the robbery and the tape. Then as soon as he asked me if Caine was in here with me... Man, I couldn't even look at him when I told him what happened to him and Sharif. Pernell just about lost it as soon as I said it."

Although he hadn't had a great deal of contact with Caine over the years, learning about his death still upset Pernell, since he was best friends with Caine's father Tat, and, by Caine's own admission when he came to visit him with Ronnie, he was like a dad to Caine after Tat had been killed. It also hurt because he understood how important Caine was to Ronnie and Anthony, as Caine was a father/big brother figure to Anthony just as he had been to Caine before he was sent to prison.

Meanwhile, A-Wax had thought of O-Dog's own relationship with Caine, as the pair had been best friends since Caine entered his teens and O-Dog was near the end of his pre-teens. With this in mind, A-Wax asked O-Dog, "listen, man. How you been about all of it? I mean, I know y'all been homies for a long time. It must be fucking you up."

"Man, you ain't lying," O-Dog replied. "When it was happening, I didn't notice it 'cause I was trying to shoot back. But as soon as it was over, I damn near broke down when I saw them like that."

When the drive-by was actually happening, O-Dog was the only one outside with a gun, and not only had he avoided being shot, but as he said, he was able to shoot back, although he couldn't hit anyone in the Pontiac as it passed, and this was likely because of how he held his gun, as he aimed it sideways instead of pointing it straight. Once the shootout was over, he had noticed Sharif's body on the ground in front of the porch, and all O-Dog could think to say was "what the fuck happened"? But true to his word, once he saw Caine, who, at the moment, was near the sidewalk in a curled-up position as he tried to protect Anthony from the gunfire, O-Dog had began to cry, and he nearly began to break down as he could only stand and watch in shock. Caine was still alive for the moment, but with the four shots that hit him in his chest and stomach area, it was practically inevitable that Caine couldn't escape death like he had earlier in the summer after he was shot in the carjacking that his cousin Harold had died in.

"Man, I miss 'em a lot," O-Dog said of Caine and Sharif. "I should've listened to Caine about that tape, too. Matter'fact, I should have just handled that shit at the store in a better way in the first place."

What ultimately got O-Dog arrested was the surveillance tape from the liquor store that showed him shooting the Korean man who owned the store, while Caine was nearby drinking from his bottle of beer. O-Dog had gotten pissed off because after he told the store owner (and his wife) that he couldn't stand them, the store owner replied by saying that he felt sorry for O-Dog's mother.

_"What you say about my mama? You feel sorry for who?!"_

_"I don't want any trouble, just get out!"_

To O-Dog, the comment by the owner was the breaking point, as Caine and O-Dog had both been constantly followed around the store, not only that night, but whenever they came there. Presumably, the owner and his wife did so because they may have stereotyped them by thinking that they would steal something, although they had never done so, and Caine had even paid for the beers just before the argument had started. O-Dog was angry about the comment about his mother and the continued harassment of himself and Caine, and justifiably so. But when he shot the man, he created an ugly situation for himself and Caine, and things only got worse when he killed the man's wife in the storage room as he tried to get the tape.

_"What the fuck did you do, man?!" Caine asked in shock and panic after he saw the body of the store owner behind the cash register._

Rather than simply leaving the store with Caine after he took the surveillance tape, O-Dog instead broke into the cash register, only to find just six dollars inside. He decided to go in the store owner's pockets, and sure enough, he found a much larger sum of cash, which was made clear when he called out "jackpot" as he counted the money and eventually put it in his own pocket. Only after Caine yelled out "fuck that, I'm gone" - indicating that he was leaving the store regardless of what else he decided to do - did O-Dog leave from behind the cash register and out of the store, and with that, he drove off with Caine as they escaped, presumably to go back home.

**"Had I not shot the Koreans at the store, or at least if I had got rid of the tape like Caine said, **ain't no telling how different shit would be right now," O-Dog said in a somber manner. "Him and Sharif would probably still be alive, and I damn sure wouldn't be in here right now."

"Look, homie, don't even trip about that," A-Wax replied. "That shit at the store might be on you, but not what happened to Caine and Sharif. Besides, even though you didn't get rid of the tape, look how long it took for one-time (police) to find out about it. And they only got the tape because Chauncey's punk ass gave it to 'em."

"Did y'all catch Chauncey yet?" O-Dog asked.

"Naw, man. That motherfucker been ducking, dodging and hiding, but sooner or later, he'll get caught slipping, and when he do, you already know what's up."

"Yeah, I know. But even if you can't get him, just find the niggas who shot Caine and Sharif. They ain't deserve to go out like that, no matter what happened."

"Aw, you ain't even gotta worry about that. I ain't found them yet, but like I said about Chauncey, if they get caught, they getting dealt with."

As soon as he finished talking, one of the corrections officers in the room called out, "okay, time's up", and as a result, O-Dog and A-Wax hung up their phones. But before they left away from the booth, they both had put a fist up to the glass, implying that they would have fist-bumped if the glass wasn't in the way. As A-Wax was leaving, he let out a sigh as he ran his hands across his face, as he thought about everything that had happened in the past week. Caine and Sharif had died and eventually been laid to rest, and O-Dog had been arrested for the shooting at the liquour store earlier, and if he was tried as an adult, he would most likely be locked up for the rest of his life. And A-Wax knew that despite everything that had gone on, Stacy would eventually be in Kansas, and Ronnie and Anthony would be in Atlanta. With a few exceptions, his circle had gotten much smaller in a rapid pace, and with his own past, he began to wonder how much more time he had left as a free man, and better yet, how much longer he would be alive.

**Later that night, as he was on his way home after his visit with O-Dog, A-Wax was **riding in his tan/light brown Cadillac, and as he did so, he was smoking and thinking of the past week and about his entire life up to that point. He didn't have a great deal of regret, but he did wonder if anything he had done had any true purpose to it. He had never been in a gang, but he had done his fair share of hustling, largely by selling drugs, and while at first, it was out of necessity, it ultimately became natural habit. Caine had even said once that A-Wax had been "putting in work" for so long that he liked to see other people doing dirt.

Killing was even in A-Wax's history, specifically on the night when he drove Caine and O-Dog to the fast food spot where the carjackers who shot Caine and killed Harold were hanging out at. O-Dog had immediately killed the gunman responsible for the shooting, and while Caine had shot his friend who told him and Harold to "break themselves", A-Wax had to finish the job since the man was trying to get away.

He had even taken them to a parking garage when they were called on to steal a Nissan Maxima as part of an insurance scam, but while they were blocked in and eventually arrested, A-Wax had managed to escape.

All of this was just a small example of what A-Wax had done and been through in his life. And what was about to happen in the next few minutes would be just another one of those moments for him, even if the magnitude of the situation would suggest otherwise.

Once he had gotten close enough to home, A-Wax decided to stop to get himself something to eat from a nearby diner, when he spotted the rusty green Pontiac, which turned out to be a 1968 Executive, in the parking lot of a liquor store that was next door. It dawned on him that it was the same car from the drive-by, and once it hit him, he decided to pull into the parking lot and catch whoever was riding in the car while he had the chance.

As it turned out, the only two men who were in the car and eventually went into the store were Ilena's cousin and his friend who owned the car. When they walked out of the store, both of them were holding a paper bag with whatever they went into the store for, and having a conversation, although it wasn't clear what they were talking about. Meanwhile, A-Wax had began approaching the car, and just as Ilena's cousin and his friend had gotten back in, A-Wax had made his way to the car, and without any cameras outside, or any other people to serve as potential witnesses, the plan that he had was virtually foolproof.

"Hey homie, let me talk to you for a minute," A-Wax said to Ilena's cousin as he approached the car.

"Do I know you, man?" Ilena's cousin asked after he looked over to his friend.

"Not really, but just give me a second. You Ilena's cousin, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, everybody heard about the drive-by that happened, and the homies just wanted me to tell you to watch out, 'cause somebody looking for y'all."

"Shit, man. Who the hell could be looking for us, besides the police?" the friend of Ilena's cousin asked A-Wax, not knowing that A-Wax was a friend of Caine, Sharif and O-Dog's.

"Well, they said somebody named A-Wax was looking for y'all."

"Man, who the fuck is A-Wax, nigga?" Ilena's cousin said, seemingly brushing off what he had just heard.

"I'm A-Wax, motherfucker!"

Once he yelled that out, A-Wax lifted up his black Desert Eagle and shot Ilena's cousin twice in the head. Then, just as his friend was reaching for his gun, A-Wax had shot him five times, with three shots hitting him in his neck, one shot going in his head, and the last shot hitting him in his face. When he knew for sure that both men were dead, he looked down at Ilena's cousin and said, "that's what's up, bitch-ass nigga." This was in response to him hearing that Ilena's cousin had yelled out, "yo, what's up now 'potna' (partner)?" before the drive-by started. After A-Wax said this, he ran back to his Cadillac as fast as possible, started it up and drove off just as quickly. Luckily, for him, there was another exit from the store, and that's where he had went out.

Considering what he had been thinking about before he made it to the store, and what Mr. Lawson and Mr. Butler had said to the crew in the past, particularly when Mr. Butler came to a barbecue they had went to a few weeks ago, A-Wax had began to wonder if what he had just done was worth it. But when he remembered how he was as a person, the fact that he lived by the code of the streets, and that Caine and Sharif had died as they were trying to do better and turn their lives around, any guilt and regret that he was beginning to feel had soon escaped from him. He had practically vowed to O-Dog that Ilena's cousin would pay the price for him and his friends killing Caine and Sharif, and A-Wax, in his mind, had kept his word, and it didn't matter to him if it was right or wrong. His only concern now was to get home without running into the cops, any of Ilena's cousin's other friends, or anyone else who just might have decided to threaten his life in any kind of way.

**And there it was. Ilena's Cousin got away with killing Caine and Sharif for a short time, but it caught up with him quick, and it just so happened that A-Wax was the one to see to it that it was done. But anyway, that's it. If you like it, love it, hate it, or whatever else, just go ahead and leave a review. Later, y'all.**


End file.
